Knowledge of mothers regarding children’s vaccinations in Cyprus: A cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: Vaccine hesitancy is identified as one of the top threats to global health. A significant drop of childhood vaccine coverage is reported worldwide. One of the key reasons that influenced mothers’ choice to postpone, or avoid children’s vaccination, is knowledge. This study aimed to ass...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Kyprianidou, Maria, Tzira, Eleana, Galanis, Petros, Giannakou, Konstantinos
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8452034/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34543326
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257590
_version_ 1784569981945511936
author Kyprianidou, Maria
Tzira, Eleana
Galanis, Petros
Giannakou, Konstantinos
author_facet Kyprianidou, Maria
Tzira, Eleana
Galanis, Petros
Giannakou, Konstantinos
author_sort Kyprianidou, Maria
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Vaccine hesitancy is identified as one of the top threats to global health. A significant drop of childhood vaccine coverage is reported worldwide. One of the key reasons that influenced mothers’ choice to postpone, or avoid children’s vaccination, is knowledge. This study aimed to assess the level of Cypriot mothers’ knowledge on certain aspects of vaccination of their children, examine the association between vaccination knowledge and selected socio-demographic factors, and lastly assess the association of mothers’ knowledge about vaccination with vaccination coverage and delay, compliance to the recommended schedules, vaccination during pregnancy and mother-pediatrician relationship. METHODS: An online-based cross-sectional study conducted to collect information about socio-demographic characteristics, child’s characteristics, vaccination, and vaccine knowledge, using a self-administered questionnaire. The survey was conducted between April 2020 and June 2020 and the study population included mothers over 18 years old with at least one child (<18 years old) living in Cyprus. RESULTS: A total of 703 Cypriot mothers participated in the study. Most of the participants stated that they vaccined their children (97%) and the most popular source of information about vaccination was their pediatrician (90%). More than half of the participants (57%) have delayed their child/children vaccination with their pediatrician’s suggestion being the main reason. 36% of mothers had low knowledge while the overall correct rate was 13.6% and the median (IQR) knowledge score was 11 (9–12). Having a medium knowledge about vaccination was associated with having a medium or high income, whilst high knowledge compared to low knowledge was associated with completed a higher education and having a high income. Our analysis showed that the correct knowledge by mothers with regards to vaccination increases the probability of vaccinating their children, following the local recommendations for vaccine dosages, and acquiring and trusting vaccination-related information from their children’s pediatrician. CONCLUSION: Our findings show that the majority of mothers in Cyprus had positives perceptions regarding childhood vaccination, as reflected with the high vaccination rate, however, some aspects of mothers’ knowledge of vaccination need to be improved. Public health strategies to promote vaccination, education programs as well as improved communication tools between pediatricians and mothers need to be considered to achieve favorable vaccination attitudes and practices for all mothers in Cyprus.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8452034
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-84520342021-09-21 Knowledge of mothers regarding children’s vaccinations in Cyprus: A cross-sectional study Kyprianidou, Maria Tzira, Eleana Galanis, Petros Giannakou, Konstantinos PLoS One Research Article INTRODUCTION: Vaccine hesitancy is identified as one of the top threats to global health. A significant drop of childhood vaccine coverage is reported worldwide. One of the key reasons that influenced mothers’ choice to postpone, or avoid children’s vaccination, is knowledge. This study aimed to assess the level of Cypriot mothers’ knowledge on certain aspects of vaccination of their children, examine the association between vaccination knowledge and selected socio-demographic factors, and lastly assess the association of mothers’ knowledge about vaccination with vaccination coverage and delay, compliance to the recommended schedules, vaccination during pregnancy and mother-pediatrician relationship. METHODS: An online-based cross-sectional study conducted to collect information about socio-demographic characteristics, child’s characteristics, vaccination, and vaccine knowledge, using a self-administered questionnaire. The survey was conducted between April 2020 and June 2020 and the study population included mothers over 18 years old with at least one child (<18 years old) living in Cyprus. RESULTS: A total of 703 Cypriot mothers participated in the study. Most of the participants stated that they vaccined their children (97%) and the most popular source of information about vaccination was their pediatrician (90%). More than half of the participants (57%) have delayed their child/children vaccination with their pediatrician’s suggestion being the main reason. 36% of mothers had low knowledge while the overall correct rate was 13.6% and the median (IQR) knowledge score was 11 (9–12). Having a medium knowledge about vaccination was associated with having a medium or high income, whilst high knowledge compared to low knowledge was associated with completed a higher education and having a high income. Our analysis showed that the correct knowledge by mothers with regards to vaccination increases the probability of vaccinating their children, following the local recommendations for vaccine dosages, and acquiring and trusting vaccination-related information from their children’s pediatrician. CONCLUSION: Our findings show that the majority of mothers in Cyprus had positives perceptions regarding childhood vaccination, as reflected with the high vaccination rate, however, some aspects of mothers’ knowledge of vaccination need to be improved. Public health strategies to promote vaccination, education programs as well as improved communication tools between pediatricians and mothers need to be considered to achieve favorable vaccination attitudes and practices for all mothers in Cyprus. Public Library of Science 2021-09-20 /pmc/articles/PMC8452034/ /pubmed/34543326 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257590 Text en © 2021 Kyprianidou et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Kyprianidou, Maria
Tzira, Eleana
Galanis, Petros
Giannakou, Konstantinos
Knowledge of mothers regarding children’s vaccinations in Cyprus: A cross-sectional study
title Knowledge of mothers regarding children’s vaccinations in Cyprus: A cross-sectional study
title_full Knowledge of mothers regarding children’s vaccinations in Cyprus: A cross-sectional study
title_fullStr Knowledge of mothers regarding children’s vaccinations in Cyprus: A cross-sectional study
title_full_unstemmed Knowledge of mothers regarding children’s vaccinations in Cyprus: A cross-sectional study
title_short Knowledge of mothers regarding children’s vaccinations in Cyprus: A cross-sectional study
title_sort knowledge of mothers regarding children’s vaccinations in cyprus: a cross-sectional study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8452034/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34543326
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257590
work_keys_str_mv AT kyprianidoumaria knowledgeofmothersregardingchildrensvaccinationsincyprusacrosssectionalstudy
AT tziraeleana knowledgeofmothersregardingchildrensvaccinationsincyprusacrosssectionalstudy
AT galanispetros knowledgeofmothersregardingchildrensvaccinationsincyprusacrosssectionalstudy
AT giannakoukonstantinos knowledgeofmothersregardingchildrensvaccinationsincyprusacrosssectionalstudy